WORLD BUSINESS PARTNERS NEWS: APA4 2015

World Business Partners in the spotlight.

Beca spearheads Queenstown upgrade

Queenstown Airport has started work on a NZ$17 million series of major airfield infrastructure improvements designed to pave the way for evening flights in winter 2016 and improve the overall safety and efficiency of operations.

The airport’s main runway will be widened by 15 metres – from 30 metres to 45 metres – and resurfaced in accordance with conditions set down by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) when approving its evening flights safety case in May 2014.  

The installation of a comprehensive lighting package including runway, taxiway, apron and approach lights – another key condition of evening flight regulatory approval – is also underway.

The technical design of the project will be led by engineering firm Beca and the implementation will be managed by a construction team from Downer New Zealand.  

Queenstown Airport’s acting chief executive, Mark Edghill, believes the work will help “future-proof” the airport.

“These upgrades will not only give us a more robust, durable runway in all weathers, they will lay the groundwork for us to host evening flights in and out of Queenstown next winter which we believe will be a game-changer for the region,” he says. 

“Evening flights will spread the peak times more evenly, unlock more opportunities for passengers to access our region, provide locals with more travel options and create job opportunities for our community.”